Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Sells 26,373 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV reduced its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,885 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 26,373 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Blackstone were worth $14,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Keel Point LLC increased its stake in shares of Blackstone by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 3,939 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Davidson Kahn Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,352,000. Headland Capital LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $337,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 22,802 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $3,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Blackstone by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 228,331 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $39,369,000 after buying an additional 4,181 shares in the last quarter. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $129.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Blackstone from $219.00 to $207.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Blackstone from $222.00 to $150.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $154.82.

Blackstone Price Performance

Shares of Blackstone stock traded down $1.27 on Monday, reaching $136.15. 2,640,131 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,766,766. The firm's 50 day moving average is $138.43 and its 200-day moving average is $163.07. The firm has a market cap of $99.31 billion, a PE ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Blackstone's payout ratio is currently 112.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Private Credit Stra Blackstone bought 1,660,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $15.00 per share, for a total transaction of $24,900,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,666,667 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,005. This trade represents a 24,898.76 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of Blackstone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. The trade was a 0.82 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.